Indonesia in the G20: a guide for Model G20 delegates

If you have drawn Indonesia at a Model G20, you represent a founding member of ASEAN, the host of the 2022 Bali summit and, in its President's words, "the fourth-largest country in the world" by population. Its government calls its foreign policy "independent and active": it has reached trade agreements with the United States and the European Union, joined BRICS and works closely with India. Facts are as of mid-October 2026.

At a glance

• Leader (2024): President Prabowo Subianto, inaugurated on 20 October 2024. He holds "the governing powers"; there is no prime minister.
• People (2025): about 285.7 million (World Bank).
• Economy (2025): GDP of about US$1.45 trillion (World Bank).
• G20 presidency (2022): 1 December 2021 to 30 November 2022, hosting the Bali summit.
• ASEAN (1967): a founding signatory of the Bangkok Declaration.
• BRICS (member by January 2025): India welcomed Indonesia "joining the BRICS as a member country" in January 2025.
• Capital (2026): Jakarta, with a new capital, Nusantara, being built in East Kalimantan.

Indonesia's G20 story

Indonesia's first G20 presidency took the theme "Recover Together, Recover Stronger". President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo set three priorities, summarised by the Cabinet Secretariat as "inclusive health care, digital-based transformation and transition to sustainable energy", and told finance ministers in February 2022 that "no single country could recover alone."

The war in Ukraine made consensus hard, and the Bali Leaders' Declaration recorded the split: "Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine" but "There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions." It also declared: "Today's era must not be of war."

Bali still delivered: leaders welcomed a new "Pandemic Fund" hosted by the World Bank, and energy ministers agreed the Bali Compact, "inclusive voluntary principles" that include "affirming that energy should not be used as a means of political coercion". The Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership, launched at the summit, "will mobilise $20 billion" over three to five years, according to the UK government.

In 2023 Indonesia sat in the troika of past, present and next presidencies with India and Brazil. No second Indonesian presidency has been announced. Prabowo's first summit was Rio de Janeiro in 2024, and at Johannesburg in 2025 Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka attended "on behalf of the President".

What Indonesia wants on the world stage

Hunger and poverty. At Rio in 2024 Prabowo said: "Free meals for our children is a vital part of our strategy." In August 2026 he added: "The Republic of Indonesia, as a member of the G20, cannot accept a situation in which any of our people still go hungry."

A G20 that delivers. "The G20 must generate tangible actions to help achieve SDGs," he said in Rio, naming "transparency, inclusivity, and consensus" as its principles.

Clean energy, and credit for forests. "We are committed to achieve renewable and green energy," Prabowo told the G20, and on forests he said "we have not seen the promises of the advanced countries to provide carbon credits". Mind the dates: in Rio he was "very optimistic" about net zero "before 2050", but at the UN in 2025 the government was "targeting net-zero emissions by 2060 or earlier".

Control over its resources. Since 1 June 2026, key natural resource exports must go through the state-owned PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia; the government calls processing minerals at home "downstreaming". In a case brought by the EU, a WTO panel found in 2022 that Indonesia's nickel ore export ban was inconsistent with trade rules; Indonesia appealed to an Appellate Body that was not operating.

Fair rules and reformed institutions. At the 2026 BRICS summit Prabowo said "We do not like to be dictated to by any one or two powers" and "Trade and currency must not be weaponized." He wants a UN that is "more representative, more responsive, and better able to deliver concrete results for our peoples."

Alliances and groupings

• ASEAN: in Prabowo's words, "Indonesia is the largest country in ASEAN."
• BRICS: "We are a new member of BRICS," Prabowo told its 2026 summit in New Delhi. BRICS is a separate forum, not a bloc inside the G20.
• MIKTA: with Mexico, South Korea, Türkiye and Australia, whose leaders met Prabowo at the Rio G20 in 2024.
• OECD: accepted as an accession state in May 2024, when it aimed to join by 2027; we found no 2026 update on its progress.
• OPEC: Indonesia suspended its membership in November 2016.
• No military alliances: "We are friends with all nations and all powers. We do not wish to be involved in any military alliance," Prabowo said in June 2026.

Indonesia and India

India's Ministry of External Affairs says the two "share two-millennia old close cultural and commercial contacts", and recalls that their shared push for Asian and African independence led to the Bandung Conference of 1955 and the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. Diplomatic ties go back more than seven decades, with a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership since 2018. Prabowo was Chief Guest at India's Republic Day in January 2025, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a State Visit to Indonesia in July 2026.

Indonesia is the "second largest trading partner of India in the ASEAN region", with trade of US$28.15 billion in 2024-25. India buys far more from Indonesia than it sells, and is the "largest buyer of crude palm oil from Indonesia". In July 2026 the leaders called for UN Security Council reform "both in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership" and agreed to strengthen "the voice of the Global South."

Recent developments

• Board of Peace (January 2026): Indonesia joined this US-initiated body for Gaza, and former officials quoted by the Cabinet Secretariat say it keeps the option to withdraw. Prabowo said in February 2026 that "the only truly enduring solution is a two-state solution." This is a contested subject and we cite only Indonesian government sources, so use Indonesia's own words.
• US trade agreement (February 2026): signed on 19 February. Indonesia says it takes effect 90 days after both sides finish their legal processes; we found no sign it has happened.
• New finance minister (September 2026): Suahasil Nazara was inaugurated on 14 September, the second change in a year, so date every name.
• The US presidency (2026): Indonesia attended the first Sherpa meeting in December 2025 and the Houston energy ministerial in September 2026. We found no Indonesian statement on the US themes or on attending the Miami summit (14 to 15 December 2026).

Representing Indonesia at a Model G20

• Be the bridge. "A thousand friends are too few; one enemy is too many," as Prabowo put it in 2026. When talks stall, offer wording that records different views, as Bali did.
• Likely allies. India on Security Council reform and the Global South; Brazil on hunger, since Prabowo attended the Rio launch of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty; MIKTA partners for compromises; other emerging economies on energy-transition finance.
• Likely red lines. Text dictating how Indonesia manages its minerals or exports; binding one-size-fits-all energy targets (the Bali Compact respects "national circumstances"); climate promises with no money attached; trade or currency used as a weapon. These are inferred from its statements; voice them as preferences.
• Quote, with dates. Open with As our President told the G20 in Rio in 2024. Give every net-zero year with its speaker, and treat his Rio remark about retiring coal plants as a speech, not adopted policy.
• Documents to quote. The Bali Leaders' Declaration (November 2022), the Bali Compact (September 2022), Prabowo's Rio remarks (November 2024), his State of the Nation Address (August 2026) and the India-Indonesia Joint Statement (July 2026).

What to do next

Build your own paper with how to write a Model G20 position paper. For how texts are agreed, read how a G20 leaders' declaration is agreed. Then see the G20 Sherpa Track and Finance Track explained and the 2026 G20 presidency explained.

Model G20 is One Young India's simulation of the G20 summit for students, held as a three-day residential summit at FLAME University.